1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to computer assisted search and retrieval systems and systems and methods for combined browsing and searching of a document collection or web site.
2. Description of Related Art
The ability to manage information is increasingly important in the modern information economy. As the reach of corporate information systems is extended to suppliers and customers, timely access to corporate information repositories becomes critical. Therefore, web site designers and information architects need to provide users with tools that facilitate efficient access to required information.
Users interact with conventional information systems to accomplish tasks using distinct modes of access. If a user is familiar with the terminology used in a particular domain, such as printers, the user is likely to know the keywords likely to retrieve relevant information required to complete the user's task. For example, the use of the word “multi-function” to describe machines that combine printer, scanner, copier and fax capabilities. The task of determining what “multi-function” printers exist may be accomplished using the search mode of an information system. The keywords are entered and the results are displayed as a list of documents containing the keywords. The user then selects the document that appears most relevant and reads each document presented.
However, in the search mode, if the user selects keywords that are too specific or not relevant to the subject matter, few if any documents will be selected and the user is given the false impression that no information exists. For example, if “multi-function laser” were entered, the displayed documents would probably not include multi-function units that employed ink jet print output devices.
If the user selects keywords that are not specific enough, too many documents will be selected and the user will be overloaded with extraneous documents. Since few users will review the second or subsequent pages of a search request, the retrieval of large amounts of information tends to increase the user's cognitive overhead
If a user is unfamiliar with the subject area and therefore does not know the relevant keywords to generate a search query, a browsing mode of the information system is initiated. The user then identifies the relevant subject area specific keywords. Once the relevant keywords are identified, the user may enter the search mode and initiate a keyword search based on the information obtained from browsing.
The separation of the search and browse modes results in cognitive interruptions of the user's session. As relevant keywords are identified in the browsing mode, an interruption occurs as the user switches to the search mode to determine how well the keyword functions in narrowing the search mode results. A switch back to the browse mode may then occur. Using the browse/search process, a query is gradually developed that identifies the relevant information to accomplish the user's task. However constant switching between the search and browse modes consumes a great deal of the user's cognitive attention and requires considerable user training in developing search strategies.
In response some vendors of information systems have attempted to share previous user's browse paths under the assumption that many user's will have the same information requirements. Conventional systems such as IBM's SURFAID information system and ALEXA INTERNET'S ToolBar 5.0 information system facilitate sharing of information obtained through a user's browsing mode experience. For example, ALEXA INTERNET'S ToolBar 5.0 information system provides a customized toolbar that is added to the client browser. Using the ToolBar 5.0 product, ALEXA INTERNET is able to compile information regarding a user's path in the browsing mode and makes suggestions of a next connection based on the similarity of the current path to accumulated historical browsing information. Similarly IBM's SURFAID information system uses On-Line Analytical Processing methods to provide a user with counts of other users following traversal paths in a browsing mode.
However, these conventional systems do not provide integration between the search mode and the browse modes. Also these conventional systems do not use information scent to determine relevancy of information tailored to the user using low cognitive overhead.